I was wondering if the Zeno Clash devs ever did an interview were Anarchism came up? As someone familiar with the tenets of modern day ideological anarchism, I was immediately struck with how well Zeno Clash I/II embodies them. And after reading(hearing about the original prototype)/playing/thinking more I think that this very obviously must of been planned and very deliberately implemented.

Anarchism is indeed a main theme in the ZC story and universe, and it isn't there by accident. It was a planned part of the game. 'Punk' is also a strong theme in ZC and that goes hand in hand with anarchism.

I don't really remember any interview in which we were asked about the subject (though I could be wrong - between ZC1 and ZC2 we had many), by I'm almost sure it was discussed at some level here in the forums. I'm almost certain a couple of people were even referring to themselves as being anarchists - so yes we've had little bit of discussion about it in here somewhere. Can't remember exactly where.

Anarchism is indeed a main theme in the ZC story and universe, and it isn't there by accident. It was a planned part of the game. 'Punk' is also a strong theme in ZC and that goes hand in hand with anarchism.

I don't really remember any interview in which we were asked about the subject (though I could be wrong - between ZC1 and ZC2 we had many), by I'm almost sure it was discussed at some level here in the forums. I'm almost certain a couple of people were even referring to themselves as being anarchists - so yes we've had little bit of discussion about it in here somewhere. Can't remember exactly where.

Thanks for your reply. This underlying philosophy made the game so much more interesting to me. Can't wait for Zeno Clash 3.....

Yes, there are definitely anarchist concepts in the creation of the world!The first references we used when creating the prototype were a series of fantasy books called "Sorcery: Crown of the kings", where the hero had to venture through a lawless land. In the plot of the books the protagonist had to steal back a magical crown, because this crown was the only thing that would unite all the creatures in an organized state. Once organized, they were much more likely to go to war against neighboring kingdoms...In reality, at first, the reason we looked at these books so much for inspiration was John Blanche's amazing illustrations. But later, this “punk fantasy” style, we wanted to bring that concept into the writing as well.But what would a “punk world” be like? We thought it should be a world without a state or any other form of authority. Usually in punk-themed stories you find that in a dystopian future an opressive state or mega-company play the antagonist.. but what if in Zenozoik these things had already been discarded?I remembered from a sociology class the concept that some forms of authority happen naturally, without a social contract: when you are young, your parents have authority over you because, naturally, you owe everything to them. This explains in great part why Father-Mother is the antagonist in Zeno Clash 1.The Corwids are an exaggeration, where they even rebel against the authority reality has over them.We avoided any references to money, gods, the concept of “evil”, and many other things we felt did not belong in a punk world.Some ideas might have come from “Anarquismo para principiantes” (anarchism for beginners), which I read while we were making Zeno Clash 1.